Shalom,

Now I challenge you to find the Word in the last 88 verses of Psalm 119! My favorite verses here are:

⁸⁹Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven [stands firm as the heavens].

⁹³I will never forget Your precepts, [how can I?] for it is by them You have quickened me (granted me life).

¹²⁴Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy and loving-kindness, and teach me Your statutes.

¹²⁹Your testimonies are wonderful [far exceeding anything conceived by man]; therefore my [penitent] self keeps them [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].

¹³⁰The entrance and unfolding of Your words give light; their unfolding gives understanding (discernment and comprehension) to the simple.

¹⁴⁸My eyes anticipate the night watches and I am awake before the cry of the watchman, that I may meditate on Your word.

¹⁶⁰The sum of Your word is truth [the total of the full meaning of all Your individual precepts]; and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever.

¹⁶²I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great spoil.

I LOVE verse 160! The Word of God doesn't INCLUDE Truth, it IS TRUTH! John 17:17:

¹⁷Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Love the Word, treasure the Word, hide the Word in your heart, obey the Word and SPEAK the WORD always! The only way to truly succeed!

The entire message of 1 Corinthians 8 is to walk in love where other people are concerned. Do you always have to be right? Do you always have to have YOUR way? Do you always think about how something will affect YOU first? That's NOT love! We ALL fall into selfishness at times. The key is to recognize that Jesus gave it ALL for us! He wants us to have that same attitude where other people are concerned. Don't compromise the Word for it, but make sure everything you do is out of love for those whom HE loves and you'll be operating just like HIM! For the rest, 1 John 1:9 is a must! Thank You, Jesus!

Joshua 11-12 reveals more of the Lord taking care of the enemies of Israel. Remember what we talked about yesterday. Those nations had been involved in some horrific and totally ungodly things. God will give people a chance to turn to Him, but when they choose otherwise, THEY have chosen their fate! Thank You, Father, for protecting your own from ALL the works of the enemy! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We begin Psalm 119 today by reading the first 88 verses. I challenge you to find "the Word" in each verse of Psalm 119. It is there, in every verse! My favorites are:

²Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.

⁵Oh, that my ways were directed and established to observe Your statutes [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!⁶Then shall I not be put to shame [by failing to inherit Your promises] when I have respect to all Your commandments.

¹¹Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

¹²Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes.

¹⁸Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

²⁴Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.

³⁴Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law; yes, I will observe it with my whole heart.

"I love the Word of God

It fills my heart & soul

Whether morning, noon or night

The time is always right

To hear the Word of God" AMEN!!!

In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul spends the entire chapter talking about marriage. Two verses to keep in mind are verses 6 & 12a:

⁶But I am saying this more as a matter of permission and concession, not as a command or regulation.

¹²To the rest I declare--I, not the Lord [for Jesus did not discuss this]

Paul is saying here that none of these are commands and that it is NOT the Lord speaking, but Paul in his own wisdom. The bottom line: Leave people alone to obey the Word and be lead by the Spirit of God. Every believer is going to Heaven and has the responsibility to find out the will of God for their own lives and to live out their lives accordingly. Stop trying to make other people fit into your mold and don't ever let another person pressure you to fit into theirs! Keep in mind verses 17 and 23:

¹⁷Only, let each one [seek to conduct himself and regulate his affairs so as to] lead the life which the Lord has allotted and imparted to him and to which God has invited and summoned him. This is my order in all the churches.

²³You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for by Christ]; then do not yield yourselves up to become [in your own estimation] slaves to men [but consider yourselves slaves to Christ].

AMEN!

In Joshua 9 we see Joshua and the Israelites making a mistake in verse 14:

¹⁴So the [Israelite] men partook of their food and did not consult the Lord.

They were tricked by the people of Gibeon because they didn't take the time to ask the Lord! Make sure you always check the inward witness before you make any important decisions. If it doesn't seem right INSIDE, then stop and don't make a decision until you are sure you've heard from God. It will save you a world of trouble later!

In chapter 10 we see God Himself giving Israel the victory over all of these kings and cities. It is important to remember that these are actually the "Wars of the Lord" and NOT the wars of the Israelites. These nations had had years to align themselves with the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible. They refused to conform to His will, even after seeing and hearing all that He had done for and through the Israelites. They decided their own fate when they made that choice. They worshipped idols and were involved in many evil and occult practices and could not be allowed to exist within the borders of God's "holy" people. Holy meaning separated from the world and separated unto God. Keep this in mind as you continue to read through the Old Testament and you will understand more clearly why God had them do certain things!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today we have Psalm 118 which takes it's place between the shortest Psalm (117) and the longest Psalm (119). It is referred to as a "Hallelujah" Psalm and begins and ends with praise and thanksgiving. It also contains some very powerful Truths and confessions of faith! Look at verse 6:

⁶The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

The LORD is on MY side! Yours, too! When I looked up the phrase "on my side' I found that it is a Hebrew preposition that means: to or toward, belonging to, with respect to, in regard to. That brought to my mind Jeremiah 29:11:

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

YES! God is definitely ON MY SIDE! He wants only good and godly things to happen in my life. That's why He has always done whatever was necessary to get His Word to His people! His Word is alive and powerful and sent forth to bring LIFE into the lives of His people. Let's treasure the Word and get to know Him better through it!

1 Corinthians 6:12 says this:

¹²Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

That means that once you are a believer, you are no longer under the Law for eternal Salvation. No sin we commit after being born again will keep us from Heaven when we leave this earth. BUT, sin in this life will rob us in this life of good and Godly things that He wants us to be blessed with. It will also hold us back from fulfilling the calling we have from God. It will rob us of rewards and new responsibilities in Heaven because it will distract us from hearing clearly, seeing clearly and obeying instantly. Anything that we cling to in this life is an idol to us just as much as the idols of wood and stone that the Israelites got tricked into worshipping under the Old Covenant. Even though it may be "lawful" to us, it is NOT "expedient"! It is not profitable and does not lead to walking in power and prosperity in this life, or great rewards and responsibilities in the next. Stop the sin and set aside the weights and finish YOUR course in victory! AMEN! Remember verses 19-20 and make that your goal!

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,²⁰You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

In Joshua 7-8 we see that someone in the camp has sinned by touching the "devoted thing". That was the portion that God had claimed as His own and had given strict instructions on what was to be done with it. How does that affect us? Look at Leviticus 27:30:

³⁰And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.

The tithe, the first 10% of our income or increase, belongs to God! He said that it is "holy", the Hebrew word, "qodesh", which means: consecrated, dedicated, set apart. God sees it as set apart from the world and set apart UNTO HIMSELF! When we agree with God and present our tithe to OUR High Priest, Jesus, according to Deuteronomy 26, then we are in agreement with God and all of the blessings promised to the tither are ours! See Malachi 3:8-10 to see what they are! Don't touch what belongs to God! He has more than enough left to flood into your life. More than you and I can ask or think, dream or imagine! Just do it HIS way and be blessed! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

The Psalm for today, Psalm 117, is really short and to the point!

¹O PRAISE the Lord, all you nations! Praise Him, all you people!²For His mercy and loving-kindness are great toward us, and the truth and faithfulness of the Lord endure forever. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

The words for praise here include "halal", which means to rave about, boast about, to be clamorously foolish over, and "shabach", which means to boast, laud, to commend, to address in a loud tone. Nothing quiet about what we are commanded to do here! And this commandment is addressed to all nations and all people! WHY? Because He is worthy of ALL praise and honor and glory, that's why!

1 Corinthians 5:9-10 says this:

⁹I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people--¹⁰Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether!

Paul wanted the people to stay pure in their own thoughts ("As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" Proverbs 23:7) and lives so that they would be in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to minister Life to those in need. Notice that he didn't say to stay away from the needy people in the world. Jesus didn't! We need to stop all fellowship with believers that are involved in unclean and impure things so that we can be ready to minister to those in the world that are! The believers aught to know better! The heathen don't know HOW to know better! That's where WE come in! NOT preaching condemnation or judging them for their sin, but in sharing the Good News of the Gospel that there IS a better Life!

My favorite part about the Jericho story in Joshua 6 is verse 20:

²⁰So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout, and [Jericho's] wall fell down in its place, so that the [Israelites] went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

They went into the city, "every man straight before him", NOT "over the walls", because the walls fell down INTO the ground and they were level! What an amazing and interesting God we Love and serve! There is never a dull day when you spend it getting to KNOW Him! (Philippians 3:10 - Amplified). AMEN!

I'll add more later!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 116:8-9 says:

⁸For You have delivered my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling and falling.⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

As believers in Jesus of Nazareth, we have ALREADY been delivered from the authority of satan and his realm of death and darkness. We should never be found crying over problems, situations and circumstances! The Word of God has the answer for EVERY test or trail we could ever face! Verse 8 tells us that we have even been delivered from stumbling! The Holy Spirit, Who desires to direct our steps, will lead us every moment of every day that we allow Him to! Verse 9 says that we able to walk FACE TO FACE with the Lord, right here on earth! He will direct our steps in the way of LIFE so that we can walk in the fullness of His presence and BE that living witness the world so desperately needs us to be!

In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 we see that Paul says that the most important characteristic of a "steward", the Greek word, "oikonomos", which means, a house manager, an overseer, a preacher of the Gospel, is that they be found FAITHFUL!

¹SO THEN, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God.²Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].

As a Minister of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), it is vitally important that each one of us be found faithful! Can the Lord Jesus count on YOU to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit to do whatever is necessary at the moment? Will you stop everything to pray when He urges you to? Will you call that person He lays on your heart to call? Will you take time out of your "busy" day to follow the still small voice or inner nudging? Will you be one that your pastor can count on to ALWAYS be on fire for the things of God, always tithing and giving, always willing to do the WORK of the ministry? Pastors can teach any skill to a faithful person and have good results. Unfaithful people, no matter what their skills and expertise, are not a blessing to anyone. Unfaithfulness is just another form of selfishness. I KNOW that none of YOU are unfaithful! You care enough to be following this blog so that you can learn even more! The Lord is pleased and so is your pastor! He delights in people like you!

In Joshua 3:5 we see the instructions that Joshua gave to the people:

⁵And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

Joshua told the people to "sanctify" themselves. That is the Hebrew word, "qadash", which means: to consecrate, to separate, to set apart, to devote, to keep oneself apart. That means to do whatever it takes to separate from worldly influences so that you are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and in position to obey Him. Why? Because He wants to do "wonders" among YOU! "Wonders" is the Hebrew word, "pala`", which means: to be marvellous, to be extraordinary, to separate by distinguishing actions, to be beyond one's power, to do wondrously. The God of the Bible wants to reveal Himself to the people of the world THROUGH you and me! We need to keep ourselves in a ready position to be used by Him, AT ALL TIMES! He works HIS works through HIS people. Is there any reason it can't be YOU? GO FOR IT! AMEN!

Shalom in Him

Shalom,

Psalm 115:4-7 says:

⁴The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.⁵They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;⁶They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not;⁷They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither can they make a sound with their throats.

I have always thought it was so funny that people would chop down a tree, use some wood for furniture, some for firewood, some for building a house or barn or outhouse, and then use the rest to make themselves an idol, cover it with gold and THEN bow down and worship it! What a perfect example of minds that have been blinded to the Truth! Don't put YOUR trust in DUMB idols! Put your trust in the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible!

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 says:

¹HOWEVER, BRETHREN, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],unable to talk yet!]

How do you get to be one who can be fed the Meat of the Word of God, rather than just the Milk of the Word? You must become a DOER of the Word you already know. As you act on the Word of God in obedience, the Word becomes more and more REAL to you! You will begin to understand and comprehend the things of God more deeply and the Holy Spirit will reveal things to you the same way that He revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Messiah! On THAT revealed knowledge, Jesus has, and will continue, to build the Church! Be a doer and not a hearer only, or you will only be able to digest the Milk, and maybe not even that! OUCH!

My very favorite verse in all of the book of Joshua has always been Joshua 1:8:

⁸This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

Do NOT let go of the Word of God! Don't let it "depart", the Hebrew word, "muwsh", which means: to withdraw, remove, cease, depart, take away. But INSTEAD "meditate", the Hebrew word, "hagah", which means: to murmur, ponder, imagine, meditate, mutter, speak, study, utter the Word! When? Day and night! Continuously! Then you will be able to DO what you OBSERVE in the Word and THEN you will be able to make YOUR way prosperous and have GOOD success! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Everything I'm going to talk about today is found in 1 Corinthians 2! First we will look at verses 1-2:

¹And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.²For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Paul was not out to seek fame for himself! He didn't come to the people with great swelling words and try to get them to follow him. He came to reveal Jesus to them! He wanted people to know and love Jesus and receive Him as their Lord and personal Saviour. Verses 4-5:

⁴And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:⁵That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Paul wanted them (and us!) to recognize that it was the power of God, revealed through His Word, that would set us free and keep us free! Verses 9-10:

⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.¹⁰But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Only as we meditate in the Word of God and spend time in intimate fellowship with Him, will we be able to get even a glimpse of all of the good and godly things that He has prepared for us!

We need to always remember that unbelievers need to hear the simple Gospel of Salvation through the precious blood of Jesus of Nazareth. Don't try to teach them the whole counsel of God's Word! They are not even able to understand spiritual things UNTIL they are born again. The moment they receive Jesus as Lord and personal Saviour, they receive the Holy Spirit, Who will live inside of them and teach them God's Word! THEN and ONLY THEN will they be able to understand where we're coming from! It takes the Holy Spirit, living inside of our born again human spirits, to bring understanding of spiritual things to us! Stick with it, you'll be glad you did!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I'm back from Israel and looking forward to getting back to blogging the Bible Plan! Psalm 113:1-4:

¹PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!²Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever³From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised!⁴The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens!

The word "praise" here is that Hebrew word, "halal", which we have looked at many times and means: to make a show, to boast, to rave, to be clamorously foolish, to celebrate! When was the last time you took the time to celebrate the greatness of our God? Stop and do it now! His Name is supposed to be praised from the rising of the sun until it goes down again! Guess what? The sun is always rising somewhere, even as it sets somewhere else! So what does that mean? That means that He is to praised continuously all over the earth! I want to be a part of that, don't you? Of course you do! AMEN!

My favorite verses in 1 Corinthians 1 are verses 18-21:

¹⁸For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.¹⁹For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing.²⁰Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world's wisdom?²¹For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).

The Gospel of Jesus Christ sounds like foolishness to the unbeliever, but is the most beautiful message in the world to believers! That's the way God intended it to be! He will only reveal Himself and His Word to those who truly want to know! That's how we should pray for unbelievers. Pray that they will realize their need for a Saviour and that they will WANT to know Him! That is the only prayer that He will answer for an unbeliever. Are you a believer? Have you received Jesus of Nazareth as your Lord and personal Saviour? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin, that He rose from the dead and now sits in Heaven at the right hand of God the Father? Is there any reason that you can't make Him the Lord of your life right now? Then pray this prayer from your heart:

Almighty God, I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, died on the cross for me, was raised from the dead, and is now seated at Your right hand. I accept and receive Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and I invite Him to come into my heart and become Lord over my life. I thank You now Father, for welcoming me into Your family. You are my Father. I am Your child. Jesus is my Lord! Amen.

Now you ARE a believer and a child of the living God! Check out the Spoken Word Church website through the link on the left of this blog and find out how to grow up in the Word. If you couldn't pray this prayer because you didn't know what we were talking about, check out the website and find out more! You'll be SO glad you did! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Home from Israel, but VERY busy! I will return to the full blog tomorrow! For today Deuteronomy 30:19-20:

¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live²⁰And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses had just finished giving the Israelites a list of all of the blessings there would be for obeying the Lord their God, and all of the curses that would result from NOT obeying Him. Nothing could have been clearer than what Moses had just shared. Then he sums it all up with these last words. The difference between life and death is very clear! The difference between blessing and cursing is also very clear! The difference between obeying and disobeying is also very clear! And then Moses gives them the answer: CHOOSE LIFE! We have the same choices today! We can be doers of the Word of God in the New Covenant that we have with Him through the precious blood of Jesus, or we can choose NOT to do the Word. The results are the same as they were for the Israelites - Life (good and godly things happening in our lives) or Death (bad and ungodly things happening). PLEASE choose LIFE! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Flying home from Israel today! Today we will look at Luke 23:46-47:

⁴⁶And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit! And with these words, He expired.⁴⁷Now the centurion, having seen what had taken place, recognized God and thanked and praised Him, and said, Indeed, without question, this Man was upright (just and innocent)!

Now THAT was the very reason that Jesus went through it all! The centurion BELIEVED! Now when he heard that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead, do you think that He believed that? I do! We'll know for sure when we get there, won't we? Thank You, Lord Jesus, for all that You accomplished on MY behalf when You gave Your very life! Hallelujah!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Deuteronomy 26 contains the proper way to present the tithe before the Lord. Verses 1-3:

¹WHEN YOU have come into the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance and possess it and live in it,²You shall take some of the first of all the produce of the soil which you harvest from the land the Lord your God gives you and put it in a basket, and go to the place [the sanctuary] which the Lord your God has chosen as the abiding place for His Name [and His Presence].³And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and say to him, I give thanks this day to the Lord your God that I have come to the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.

We take the first 10% of our income and present it, in our own homes, into the hands of OUR High Priest, JESUS! HE takes the tithe that we present to Him and He presents it to the Father in a way that is pleasing to Him! Then verses 5-9:

⁵And you shall say before the Lord your God, A wandering and lost Aramean ready to perish was my father [Jacob], and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.⁶And the Egyptians treated us very badly and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage.⁷And when we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;⁸And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with great (awesome) power and with signs and with wonders;⁹And He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

WE say: "I was a sinner serving satan, but I called on the Name of the Lord and You saved me! You snatched me OUT of the kingdom of darkness and planted me FOREVER into the Kingdom of Light and Life and Love! The Kingdom of God the Son"! Then we worship Him! Verses 14-15:

¹⁴I have not eaten of the tithe in my mourning [making the tithe unclean], nor have I handled any of it when I was unclean, nor given any of it to the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.¹⁵Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

WE say: "I have done according to all Your Word, for I have confessed my sin when I've missed it (1 John 1:9), now look down from your holy habitation in Heaven and bless me as you said in Your Word You would do"! That is the actually TITHING your tithe! Making out the check isn't tithing, THIS is tithing! Then take your tithe to a church that is a Scriptural storehouse (a church that teaches the Word of God and spreads the Gospel to all the world by being involved in supporting ministries that do and by local outreaches) and worship Him there with it! At the Spoken Word Church, we have the congregation BRING their tithes and offerings to the front of the church during the Praise and Worship Service, whenever they are ready to do so! Our church has been SO blessed since doing this!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Loving Israel! The verses for today are found in Luke 21:1-4:

¹LOOKING UP, [Jesus] saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury.²And He saw also a poor widow putting in two mites (copper coins).³And He said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them;⁴For they all gave out of their abundance (their surplus); but she has contributed out of her lack and her want, putting in all that she had on which to live.

Notice that Jesus said that the widow had put in MORE than anyone else that had put their gifts in the treasury. Do you think the AMOUNT she gave was more? NO! They were RICH and she was POOR! What she did give was a larger PERCENTAGE of what she had! She gave 100% of all that she had. They simply gave of their surplus. That means they gave God what they had left over after they did what they wanted with their ABUNDANCE! This example is what the Lord used when He instructed the Pastor of the Spoken Word Church to encourage the congregation to get involved in PERCENTAGE giving. Once you tithe your tithe, then let your offerings above the tithe be based on a percentage of your income. That way you will always be giving consistently no matter what the AMOUNT! That's what the Lord is really looking at! Why? Because our giving reveals our heart. (Luke 12:34)

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Enjoying Israel! The verses I will share today come from Psalm 108:1-5:

¹O GOD, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!²Awake, harp and lyre; I myself will wake very early--I will waken the dawn!³I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.⁴For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great and high as the heavens! Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.

I WILL praise and worship HIM with every thing within ME, and I will do it EARLY! How about you?

And one of the things I am MOST grateful for in MY life is that I don't have to obey Deuteronomy 23:12-14:

¹²You shall have a place also outside the camp to which you shall go [as a comfort station];¹³And you shall have a paddle or shovel among your weapons, and when you sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up what has come from you.¹⁴For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore shall your camp be holy, that He may see nothing indecent among you and turn away from you.

Thank You, Lord, for indoor plumbing! Hallelujah! have YOU ever thanked Him for something like that? We take SO MUCH for granted, don't we!

Shalom in Him

Shalom,

I have a few verses to share today, but most of them say the same thing! Psalm 107:1:

¹O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

Psalm 107:8:

⁸Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:15:

¹⁵Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:21:

²¹Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:31:

³¹Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Do you get the message! He wants us to tell the world of all the wonderful things He has done for us! Why? Because then they will be drawn unto Him and that is His greatest desire, that people should call on the Name of the Lord and be saved! And then we wend with this fromverse 43:

⁴³Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.

Be wise! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

The verse I want to share today, while I am in Israel, is found in Luke 18:29-30:

²⁹And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,³⁰Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

The scenario was, the rich young ruler had just asked Jesus what he should do to be saved. Jesus told him to sell what he had (liquidate his assets!), GIVE to the poor, and follow Jesus. Notice that Jesus did NOT say "give it ALL to the poor". Jesus was showing the man how to prosper by sowing seed. The man couldn't wrap his mind around the instructions because his riches were EVERYTHING to him! Notice that the disciples were amazed and wondered who could possibly be saved then. Why did they ask that? Because they were NOT poor men! They were very successful fisherman, tax collectors and other professions. Then Peter mentioned what they had all set aside to follow Him and this was His reply! Don't let your "riches" have you! Put them in perspective! Sow seed into the lives of others, meeting their needs, and expect God to prosper you in every way! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

While I am in Israel I have been sharing a verse from each day's Bible Plan Reading that has ministered to me. The verse for today is found in Luke 17:19:

¹⁹And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.(KJV)

¹⁹And He said to him, Get up and go on your way. Your faith (your trust and confidence that spring from your belief in God) has restored you to health.(AMP)

This was the time when Jesus cleansed to 10 lepers of leprosy. Of the 10, only 1 returned to give Him thanks. They were all free from leprosy, but only the one who returned was made "whole", the Greek word, "sozo", which means: to make well, heal, restore to health, make whole! Now that will mean something to you if you understand the disease of leprosy! Look it up and see that it would cause disfigurement, to the loss of things like fingers and toes. THIS man was made WHOLE! That means any disfigurement was repaired, missing toes and fingers were replaced, He was restored in better health than he had been before! AMEN! Give God the thanksgiving and praise He so deserves for all of the good things He has done for you! AMEN!!!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

In Israel! My verse for today from our Bible Reading Plan is Luke 14:17:

¹⁷Yet it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to fail and become void.

The Law here is referring to the Word of God! Remember John 17:17:

¹⁷Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

The Word of God is the ONLY TRUTH! Base every decision you make in your life on what the Word of God has to say and you will be of all people, most blessed! Why? Because He watches over His Word to perform it! To see that it is carried out WHEN we stand strong on it! Jeremiah 1:12:

¹²Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.

You can count on God AND His Word!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I am in Israel! I really love all of Psalm 103, but my favorite verse for today is Psalm 103:7:

⁷He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.

Moses spent so much time in fellowship with the Lord that he KNEW His "ways". He began to know how the Lord would think and what He would expect! The children of Israel only knew what they could see with their eyes! They saw WHAT He did, Moses began to understand WHY! I would much rather be in THAT position! We can, too! It is all determined by how much time we spend getting to KNOW Him, like Paul in Philippians 3:10! DO IT!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I am presently on my way to Israel for a ten day trip! I will not be posting a teaching about the Bible Plan while I'm away, but I will be sharing my favorite verse from each day's reading for you to think about! I'll be back to it on April 22! Hope you enjoy MY favorite verses and then find your own!

For today, I really wanted to put Psalm 102:6:

⁶I am like a melancholy pelican or vulture of the wilderness; I am like a [desolate] owl of the waste places.

But, that is NOT my favorite verse because I do not feel that way at all! I have just always thought "melancholy pelican", in the Amplified Bible sounded so "interesting"! I have never found WHY they decided to word it like that, but someday I'll have to check it out!

My REAL favorite verse today is Luke 14:26:

²⁶If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters--[yes] and even his own life also--he cannot be My disciple.

Now you know that the Lord doesn't want you to hate your family. The key phrase here is "in comparison with his attitude toward God"! What it means is that we are to love and treasure our relationship and fellowship with the On, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible MORE than anyone or anything else in our lives! The most wonderful thing about loving Him like that is, then we will be able to love our families SO MUCH MORE than we ever thought possible! We're really cheating the important people in our lives if we EVER put them before HIM in our affections! Fall in Love with Jesus all over again! You'll be so glad you did! So will everyone else!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 101:1 says:

¹I WILL sing of mercy and loving-kindness and justice; to You, O Lord, will I sing.

The word "mercy" in this verse is the Hebrew word "checed",which means: loving-kindness, steadfast love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness, devotion. It truly represents the strength, steadfastness and love that the Lord our God has for US! Don't ever forget that! It is what caused the Father to give the Son. It is what caused the Son to keep His face set because of the JOY (US) that was set before Him. It is what causes the Holy Spirit to NEVER leave us or forsake us! Treasure the CHECED of the Lord for YOU!

In Luke 13 we see Jesus minister healing to the woman who was bent over in verses 11-13:

¹¹And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an infirmity caused by a spirit (a demon of sickness). She was bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to look upward.¹²And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity!¹³Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she recognized and thanked and praised God.

Not EVERYONE was happy about that! The leader of the synagogue said this:

¹⁴But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.

I wonder on what days he ever healed anyone or saw them set free? Hmmmm. But the people watching DID rejoice with her! Jesus had this to say in verses 15-17:

¹⁵But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it?¹⁶And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?¹⁷Even as He said this, all His opponents were put to shame, and all the people were rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

In Deuteronomy 9-10 Moses is continuing to rehearse to the young generation of Israelites their history! In Deuteronomy 10:14 Moses says this:

¹⁴Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth also, with all that is in it and on it.

Everything belongs to the Lord our God! WE belong to Him! Do you think God takes good care of His possessions, or do you think He is slothful with them, the way some of us can be about our possessions? NO, NO, NO!!! He will ALWAYS care for you! 1 Peter 5:7:

⁷Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

That's the same God we see in Deuteronomy 10:17:

¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe.

Praise Him! He is worthy! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!